First Trip to Pediatrician

Today was Micah's first visit to the pediatrician. We saw a doctor who specializes in adoption medicine and has adopted at least one child herself. Here are the stats: he weighs 17 lbs., 2.4 oz. (5th percentile), 28 1/4 inches long (50%), and has a head circumference of 44.7 cm. (10%). So, we have been instructed to feed him as much as he wants, which is pretty much what we've been doing. The hard thing is that his oral-motor skills are immature and he chokes easily on any sort of finger food. So, for now, we're stuck with rice cereal mixed with various add-ins, as well as formula.

Tomorrow will be spent at the lab as his bloodwork is done. It is all standard practice for adopted children who come with little to no medical paperwork. We will also have an EKG done to check out his heart. She said today that his heart is at the upper end of the normal range, but the EKG will be more precise and give us additional information.

As far as his umbilical hernia goes, the doctor said it corrects itself in most children by the age of five or six, and many doctors won't perform surgery before that age anyway, in hopes that it will correct itself. That's fine with me.

Overall, the doctor said he seems very healthy and is doing well developmentally. We just need to get some weight on him.

Isaac and I got to spend some special time together this morning while Micah slept. We played on the swingset together for a while, then he asked me to draw a hopscotch game for him with sidewalk chalk. He got a big kick out of that. After all the outside play (and sweat), we came inside to have an indoor picnic consisting of peanut butter sandwiches (with jelly for me), strawberries, juice boxes, and mini bags of chips. The last two items were a big treat for Isaac, as the chips are typically reserved for school lunches and Eli is the only one who gets juice boxes in his lunch, as Isaac is provided with milk at school.

This evening Eli and Isaac went strawberry picking with me at Glade-Link Farms in New Midway. We've never been before. Eli and I enjoyed it quite a bit. Isaac picked about three, then decided he had had enough! On the way home he said he didn't want to go to the berry patch again b/c it was dumb. I thought that was funny b/c he was so excited about going. We even saw a train pass by while we were picking. Apparently that was not enough excitement for him and he won't be joining us next time. Thankfully, I had the forethought to bring small buckets for our first trip to the berry patch. I suspected it wouldn't be as exciting in reality as it seemed in our imaginations. Let me tell you, though, those strawberries are so good and sweet! I recommend berry picking to all of you.

That's it for now. Tomorrow promises to be great fun, what with all the tests and drawing of blood that will be taking place. Woohoo...good times! (That was for you, Cousin.)